If you would, please turn to
Psalm 106. I'm just gonna read one verse as a starting place, and we're
gonna kinda skip around a bit. It's gonna be a little bit different
for me. Psalms 106, and I wanna read
verse eight. Nevertheless, Saved them for his namesake That
he might make no make skew that he might make his mighty power
to be known Now I preached on this a while
back But I'm gonna do a little more in depth on one part of
it Because the title of this sermon is the name of God This
is what I want to talk about But before I get started, I want
to ask you a question that I kind of had in my head. And that question
is, why does God save men? Now there are a lot of answers
that come back to you when you ask that question. Many believe that God saves men
because he has to save men. Well, that's a bad statement.
It's a bad statement. Because it leaves way too much
open for interpretation. I will state this. God will do
all that he has purposed according to his own divine sovereign will. And that divine sovereign will,
according to his purpose, is to save men. If you mean it in that manner,
God has to save men. I can take that. But if you mean
it in some other manners, God has no choice but to save men
because men are so worthy, you're full. You're full to the brim
and overflowing. And I won't say a what. I prefer to say myself that God
saves men because God has chosen to save men. His word tells us
that he didn't choose to save angels, because he tells us of
his son. And his son took not upon him
the form of angels. He came in appearance, in the
pattern of, in the form of a man. God who in the flesh was manifested, he manifested his holiness, his
righteousness, his justice, and his love in his son, the Lord
Jesus Christ. And still in all, this man is
very God, of very God, and manifest in the flesh. Here in Psalms 106, we are told
that he saves for his name's sake. God is love. I firmly believe that. And I believe that's one of the
reason I'm standing here before you right now, is because God
is love. However, his love is manifested
to us in his son, and in his son alone. And his love is manifested
to us in his salvation. which is in His Son and in His
Son alone. And His love is manifested to
us in His salvation, the salvation of those that God loves. You got scripture for that? I
believe I do. Because I believe God saves in love. Every part of His salvation is
born of His love. It's not because we're lovable.
It's not His love for us, even though we are included in His
Son. His love is in His Son. His love
is in His Son. We are not lovable creatures. No matter what anyone says, no
matter how cute anyone is, man is not a lovable creature. Man
is a creature of darkness, of death, and of rebellion. Man
is happy to have it that way, naturally, naturally. We are
conceived in iniquity and brought forth speaking lies. The scripture's
clear. As I said before, I'll say it
again, the scripture's always clear, it's men that are unclear. Now those that are chosen, that
God chose to save, are before him in love. Salvation shows
forth the love of God and I will say this he will say God will
save everyone whom he does love Now look at Ephesians 1 and verse
4 just for a moment Ephesians 1 and verse 4 according
as he has chosen us in him I before the foundation of the world that
we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, in
love. Those that He chose in Him are
going to be holy and without blame before Him in love. And that's according to His will. having predestinated us under
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to
the good pleasure of his will. The men that God chose to save
were chosen in his son. And his people were chosen in
love because that love is in his son. Verse six states this. to the praise of the glory of
his grace wherein he hath made us accepted. A believer is accepted
by God. The world doesn't understand.
They think everybody deserves to be acknowledged by God. God
loves everyone. No, God's love is in his son.
God's love is in his son. He hath made us accepted in the
beloved. in Jesus Christ, his son. Why does God save men? He saves
not for our sake, but the sake of his name. In love, in love. Because Jesus Christ is the beloved. And we are in him. That he shall make his mighty
power known. The salvation of sinners is to
make known the power of God. It's not to make manifest the
decisions of men. That's where the world stands.
God's done all he can do, now it's up to you. That's a lie. That's a bald-faced lie. When
has God ever done everything he could do and a man not be
saved? It's not gonna happen. Try to use that line on Jonah
one day. Jonah didn't even wanna go to
preach to Nineveh. Because he knew God would save
him. But God put him in the belly of a fish, sent him there, and
he was there. Because it's making known his
mighty power. It's not making known our choice.
Jesus Christ said this to his disciples, you didn't choose
me, I chose you. By that he meant, you didn't
choose me, I chose you. His name, God's name, reveals
his character and power and glory and might and righteousness and
holiness in his work, in his salvation, and his love. All of his salvation is in his
love. So, I've got four things here about the name of the Lord,
the name of God. I don't know if I told Paul that's
the title of this, the name of God. Psalm 27 and verse one. Psalm 27, verse one, this is
a Psalm of David. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is
the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? The first name of the Lord is
Yahweh Ori. That's in the Hebrew. The Lord,
our light. There's no light without the
Lord. Absolutely none. Say it another way, without the
Lord, Jesus Christ, there is only darkness. Because without
him, we are in darkness, and without him, we are darkness. That's what we are, naturally. How important is this light?
How important? What were the first words recorded
as spoken by God in this book? And God said, let there be, what? Light. And God said, let there
be light, and there was light. There was light. Mason, you're
up. Before there was a sun and a
moon in the sky, there was light. Why? Because God is our light. Yahweh Ori, the Lord our light. And then John makes it even plainer.
In John one and verse nine, he states, let me get to it. Well, That was the true light
which lighteth every man that cometh in the world. That was
the true light. He's talking about our Lord Jesus
Christ is the true light. That was the true light which
lighteth every man that cometh into the world. Wait a minute. Excuse me. Every man? Yeah. In a manner of speaking,
yes. He's the light. He's the light. The Lord is our light, but he
is the light. See, David made it personal in
Psalms. John is saying he's the light,
period. The Lord is our light. He always
shines, whether man sees him or not. That's the point. He's light
when we're darkness. He's light when we're blind to
it. He's light always and the light
always shines. But man doesn't always see. Man
doesn't always see. Because he always shines at all
times and everywhere. However, you can't forget, while
you're looking at verse nine, you can't forget verse four.
John 1 in him was life and the life was the light of men and
Verse 5 the light shined in the darkness and the darkness Comprehended
it not He's the light but the darkness
can't see He's the light But the darkness doesn't see him. He's the light. The darkness
doesn't comprehend him. The darkness doesn't understand
God. The darkness doesn't understand
the sun. And without the sun, no man's gonna see God. The darkness
is what men are without him. The darkness doesn't see him,
can't understand him, and they won't have him. But he is the
Lord, our light, if we believe him. If those who have been called
out have been given eyes to see the light. And we see, we see, we see. We see the light, we see the
Lord. We see the glory of God in the
face of Jesus Christ, who is the light. Now, yes, we've been given eyes
to see ourselves. We've been given eyes to see
others. But that's a byproduct of seeing
him. Because he's the light. Everything we see comes from
him. What you're seeing here on this
wall is light reflected off Without the light, this would
be black. That's all there is. Because
black is the opposite of the light. Darkness is the opposite
of the light, let's be scriptural. Because there's stuff here that
you can't see if you're in the dark. I know, and I think I mentioned
this before, that there's a saying that goes out, there's none so
blind as he that will not see. Well, that ain't so. There's
none so blind as those that are darkness, those that can't see. You understand? Because if God
gives you eyes to see, you are going to see, and he's gonna
give you someone to see the light, our Lord. But if you can't see,
if our gospel be hid, it's hid to those that are lost. Whom
what? The devil has blinded the minds. If your mind's blinded, it doesn't
matter how bright it is outside. If you can't see, it doesn't
matter how bright the sun is. You're not gonna see it. You're
not gonna see it. Because he is the light, there
is no darkness in him, because our light is the light. Yahweh, Ori, the Lord, our light. If he is your light, you'll see. You'll see. And he will give
you someone to see. The next one I wanna point out
is in Genesis 22, in verse 14. Hopefully a very familiar piece
of scripture. If it's not, it should be. And Abraham called the name of
that place Jehovah-Jireh, as it is said to this day, in the
mount of the Lord it shall be seen. Jehovah Jireh, Yahweh Jireh,
God provides. And in this case, in this example
in the Old Testament, God provides substitution. Abraham and Isaac were going
to worship. God told Abraham, take your son,
thine only son, and offer him as a burnt offering. And so Abraham
said to Isaac, let's go. And they went up. And yet, as Abraham was getting
ready to sacrifice his son, God said, stop. Look over there. There was a ram caught by its
horns in a thicket. And he provided that substitute
for Isaac in that place as a burnt offering which is an atonement. A burnt offering shall be for
you an atonement. But it's more than that. A burnt
offering is the whole offering, the whole animal offered unto
God. And God provided that substitution
right there in that place. God provided the burnt offering,
the substitutionary sacrifice for sin, and the perfect offering
to God, and he provided them both in our Lord Jesus Christ. God provided the Lamb of God,
which taketh away the sins of the world. John 1 and verse 29, when John
the Baptist saw the Lord Jesus Christ, he cried out these words,
behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world. Behold the Lamb, Where did this lamb come from?
God provided him. God provided him. Yahweh jireh. God provided salvation, God provides
the forgiveness of sins, and the forgiveness of sin. Death is required, the penalty
of death is sin, and man couldn't pay. Man could not pay that debt
in full. Man could die. We're good at
that, but our death wouldn't pay anything because our death
is deserved. We are sinners and we sin and
we deserve to die. God provided his perfect son,
his perfect holy son who knew no sin as our substitute on our
behalf, for our burnt offering to God. Death is required. God was righteous
and holy. Man couldn't pay. God could pay,
but God couldn't die. So in his infinite wisdom and
love, God, the Son, became man. God provided the one who could
give himself for his people, the one who could pay the debt
that we couldn't pay, and the one who would pay the debt for
his son, for his people, his son, our Lord Jesus Christ. And why would he do this? Well,
the next thing is this, Yahweh Ga'al, the Lord thy Redeemer. The Lord thy Redeemer. In Isaiah
44, I read these the other day, and I'll read them again. 44,
verse six, thus saith the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer. The Lord of hosts. The Lord of
hosts. The Lord of hosts is our Redeemer. I am the first and I am the last
and beside me there is no God. Our Redeemer is God. Oh, Jesus was a good teacher.
He was so much more than that. Matter of fact, he's still a
good teacher if you read his word. That's the whole thing. All these people talk about,
oh, Jesus was a fine teacher. Well, good, do what he taught.
Believe what he taught. He taught that he and his father
were one. He taught, I'm going to a place
that you can't go. He said to one bunch of fellas,
he says, y'all a bunch of white as sepulchers. You're a mausoleum. You paint the outside of it,
but what's on the inside of a mausoleum? Death, dead men's bones. How to win friends and influence
people. Our Lord spoke the truth everywhere, and he was a great
teacher. He is a great teacher, but he's
so much more. Problem is, the darkness doesn't
wanna learn anything about the light. God provided this one. Our Lord,
the provision, The provided one, our substitute, is our redeemer. The Lord God, the Lord of hosts,
is our purchaser. He made us and he bought us. And who did he make and who did
he bought? Who did he buy? All those that were chosen in
him before the foundation of the world. And not only that,
he didn't only just make us and buy us, he brought us in. He brought us in. He's bringing
in what many sons to glory, to glory. How did he buy us? What was the purchase price for
his redemption? Ephesians 1 and 7. Again in whom we have redemption
through his blood the forgiveness of sins the forgiveness of sins
according to the riches of his grace We didn't deserve it But
he did it Hebrews 9 and 12 put it this
way, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his
own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption for us. We have redemption by the blood
of our Redeemer. Yahweh Ga'al, God. our Redeemer, the Lord our Redeemer,
the Lord of hosts our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. And through
him we have the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of his grace and mercy. Now, forgiveness of sins is necessary,
forgiveness of sin is necessary, essential. But we need more than that. Jeremiah 23 and verse six. Oh, I'm going the wrong way.
Jeremiah 23 and verse six. Well, verse five. Behold, the
days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous
branch, and a king shall reign, and prosper, and shall execute
judgment and justice in the earth. Verse six, in his day Judah shall
be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely, and this is his name,
whereby he shall be called the Lord our righteousness. Yahweh Sidkenu. The Lord, our
righteousness. Like I said, forgiveness of sin
is necessary, forgiveness of sins is necessary, but we need
more. We need righteousness in order
to stand before a holy God. Guess what? Our substitute, our
redeemer, our Lord, is our righteousness. Why? Because God provides, the
Lord provides. We need more than our sin paid
for and forgiven, because in order to stand before the holy
God, we must be righteous. He said it, be ye holy, for I
am holy. And that bothered me a lot, Mason,
when I was a younger fella. I'd say, I can't be holy. And I can't. Not myself, I can't. But as you read the scriptures
and if you grow in grace, you learn I am holy. And that's not boasting, I'm
boasting in Him. I am boasting in Him, why? Because He's the Lord, my righteousness.
I am holy in God's sight, not in man's sight, not even in my
own sight, not in my sight, but in God's sight, I'm holy because
he's my righteousness. Thank God we have been given
the righteousness of Christ Jesus, imputed his righteousness. What's it say? He has been made
unto us wisdom, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. When God sees us, he sees his
son. If you're in him, if he brought
you in, if you believe him, you're as righteous as Jesus Christ
himself, who did no sin, who knew no sin. Ah, what a blessing. because when God sees us, he
sees his son. What's it say about our sins?
It's an Old Testament. Thrown away as far as the east
is from the west. Does that mean you don't sin?
No. It means blessed is the man to
whom the Lord will not impute sin. And I'll add this in now,
blessed is the man to whom the Lord will impute righteousness. The Lord, our righteousness. Christ is made unto us. Nevertheless, he saved them for
his namesake, that he might make his mighty power to be known.
He has saved his people for his namesake. He is saving his people
for his name's sake. And he shall save his people
for his name's sake. I heard Henry Mahan say something
the other day about that wisdom Christ has made unto us, wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Why is redemption
last there? Did you ever wonder about that?
Because usually we start with redemption and then say, you
know, Christ did it. Well, this is the thing. Our
redemption's not finished. Yeah, our redemption's purchased.
We are purchased. He has redeemed us with his blood. That part's over. But there is
still yet the redemption of the body. What'd he say? I, Christ said this, I, I will
raise them up at the last day. And one day, we are gonna be
raised in his likeness. This mortal's gonna put on immortality. This mortal's gonna put on immortality.
This corruption is gonna put on incorruption. Then, then shall
the saying come to pass, death is swallowed up in victory. If
we have hope only in this world, we're of all men most miserable.
You know why? Because we know more than most
men. Because we know the darkness and the light. Oh, wait a minute. I know the darkness and the light
in me. Oh, wretched man that I am. Because my flesh, in my
flesh, still dwelleth no good thing. But oh, there's another
law now. Another spirit. That ain't my
spirit, thank goodness. It's his. It's his. He's saving
his people. That he will make known his mighty
power. We get to know Believers get
to know, because the world won't see it, because the world can't
see it. But we get to know the power
of God in his salvation of his people. Salvation is by his mighty
power, for his name's sake. Which part of salvation? Ooh, all of it. All of it. It's in his light that we see.
It's in his redemption we have his blood. It's in his providing
of the sacrifice and substitution of life and life. It's in his righteousness because
it's his salvation. We get to share it. We're the
beneficiaries of it. But it's not my salvation in
that sense. It's his salvation because he's the one that did
it. Even our believing in him by faith. Ephesians 1 and 19. Let me look at that. Ephesians 1 and 19. I don't want to miss that one.
I'm looking the wrong way. There it is. I had it marked. Well here, verse 18, the eyes
of your understanding being what? Enlightened. That you may know
what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory
of his inheritance in the saints. And verse 19, and what is the
exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe, how do
you believe? According to the working of his
mighty power. It takes the power of God to
believe God. Now the world thinks, the religious
world thinks, man can do it. That ain't what the book says.
It takes the working of his mighty power. If you believe Christ,
you are unnatural. It's not a natural act to believe
Christ. Not this Christ. Paul summed it up in those eight
words. I quoted part of it. But of him, talking about of
God, but of him are ye in Christ Jesus. Which part? All of it. All of it. From the
purchase through the finish of being raised up at the last day.
It's all the power of God. If you are in Christ Jesus, you
are in Christ Jesus by the work of God and God alone. Now, let
me be clear. When I'm talking about this name
of God, I didn't say it, and I said it, that's why I'm perfect.
It's not the names of God. It's not plural. It always says
the name of God, singular. And I'm not, and the scripture's
not, breaking God down into little constituent parts. But the scripture
is a lot smarter than we are. We can only handle one thing
at a time if we're lucky. And what he does is it lays precept
upon precept, here a little and there a little. Precept upon
precept, here a little and there a little. And that's all we can
handle. The name of our Lord is one. Our Lord is one. The Old Testament
name of God leads us to the revelation, the revealed name in the New
Testament, because Jesus Christ is the Savior who is Christ the
Lord. Jesus Christ is Yahweh Ori, the
Lord our light. He is the Lord who provides.
He is the Lord thy Redeemer. He's the Lord our righteousness.
He is Yahweh Mekadoshim, the Lord our sanctifier. Yahweh Nisi,
the Lord our banner. Yahweh Rapha, the Lord who heals. Jesus Christ is Yeshua. The Lord who saves. The Lord
who saves. What's in a name? Well, when
it's his name, everything's in his name. He is the way, the
truth, and the life. And he didn't stop there. No
man cometh unto the Father but by me. What does that mean? Well, that means Jesus Christ
is the way, the life, and the truth. No man comes to God but
by him. It means what it says. No man
comes to God except the Son brings him. Because the good shepherd
is bringing in his sheep. Other sheep I have, them I, what?
Must bring. And he's bringing them into one
fold and there's gonna be one fold and one shepherd. He brings
them in and he keeps them. He brings them in and he feeds
them on his word. He keeps them under the full
revelation of his complete salvation because he said, I will raise
them up at the last day. Not I might, not I, I want to,
but they won't let me as long as they don't run off. You understand? The owner of the sheep is not
gonna blame the sheep for being lost. The owner of the sheep's
gonna be looking at that shepherd saying, where's my sheep? And
let me tell you this, the father is never gonna have to ask the
son where his sheep are. Because the good shepherd calls
his sheep by name and they follow him. And if you're not following
him, you might not be of his sheep. If you don't know the good shepherd's
voice, you got no call to think yourself a sheep. And there's
some that aren't his sheep. He said that. Please turn to Philippians chapter
two. Just the last little bit, and
I'm gonna quit. Philippians chapter two. In verse
5, talk about the name of the Lord, the name of God. Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought
it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation
and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the
likeness of men, And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled
himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross. Wherefore, wherefore, because
of all that, God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name
which is above every name that At the name of Jesus, at the name of Jesus, every knee
should bow of things in heaven and things in the earth and things
under the earth. And that every tongue, every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of
God the Father. the name of God, the one with
whom we have to do is Jesus Christ. That's what this Old Testament
was pointing to. The Lord our light, the Lord
who provides, the Lord thy redeemer, the Lord our righteousness, and
every other one word that it gives. There's a bunch of them
in there. Jesus Christ is Lord. Proclaim it to the glory of the
Father. There's that thing. Every knee
is going to bow and every tongue is going to confess. Here's the
question. When will you do it? It's going
to be done. It's going to be done. It's in
here. You best do it now. Bow to Him
now. Bow to one who is the Lord, Jesus
Christ. Our Heavenly Father, we are thankful
for this time, this place. Most of all, thankful for You,
Lord. Your love in salvation, in Your Son, has given us all
things. You've given us life and love
and hope and faith and peace. Thank you, Lord. Be with Walter
while he's preaching. Be with all of your people everywhere
and bless them with your word. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.